Research Overview

My PhD investigates the history and display of British military material culture, with a particular focus on the role of emotion in curatorial practice. In partnership with Cumbria’s Museum of Military Life, my research will develop a conceptual rationale and practical framework for the implementation of ‘affective curatorship’. Through the purposeful mobilising of emotions to shape interpretation, could the significance of collections items be enhanced? Could ‘affective curatorship’ give regimental museums a more meaningful way of engaging directly and deliberately with complex and varied emotional experiences, ‘controversial histories’, and ‘difficult’ objects? What are the opportunities and challenges in this? These are some of the questions I seek to address to enable a more nuanced and diverse history to be told.